English 9
Language Skills17
Mrs. Rohrer
Name__________________
I. Vocabulary .
1. Droll (adj.) amusingly odd or whimsically comical
2. Slither (v.) to glide or slide like a reptile.
3. Swoon (v.) To faint
4. Juggernaut (n.) any large, overpowering, destructive force or object, as war, a giant battleship, or a
powerful football team.
5. Leviathan (adj.) a monstrous beast, esp a sea monster; any huge or powerful thing
II. Grammar
Modifier Usage.
 Phrases can be modifiers. (In the sentence “Joe went into the fifth grade,” the italicized
phrase is an adverb telling when. In the sentence “Praying for rain, the farmers worried
about the drought.” the italicized phrase is an adjective telling which farmers.)
 Put phrases close to the words they modify so that the sentence is clear.
o Examples of misplaced modifiers:
 “Stewed to perfection, grandmother served the tomatoes.” The tomatoes
were stewed to perfection, but the sentence sounds like it was GRANDMOTHER
who was stewed to perfection! YIKES!!
 “Swinging in the trees the scientists observed the monkeys.” The
MONKEYS are swinging in the trees, but this misplaced modifier makes it sound
like there are some pretty acrobatic scientists!
III. Mechanics
Quotation Marks.

Use single quotation marks to indicate quotes within quotes. (John told Alison, “ Yes, Mom
really did say, ‘I married your dad because he had good abs.’”)
IV. Reading Skills Text Structures.
Comparison/
However, But, As well as, On the other hand, not only…but also, Either…or,
Contrast
Same as, In contrast, While, Although, More than, Less than, Unless, Similarly,
Yet, Likewise, On the contrary
Cause/Effect
However, But, As well as, On the other hand, Not only…but also, Either…or,
Problem/Solution
Same as, In contrast, While, Although, More than, Less than, Unless, Similarly,
Yet, Likewise, On the contrary
V. The Exercises.
Day One
A. Vocabulary. Match the correct word to the sentence it fits.
a. droll
b. slither
c. swoon
d. juggernaut
e. leviathan
_____1. Cookie tried to ___into the classroom, but she got caught and received a detention for her tardy.
_____2. Odessa has a ____sense of humor, but she does make me laugh.
_____3. Algebra was the ____I had to overcome to graduate from high school.
_____4. Lizzie was about to ____when her idol, Ryan Seacrest walked into the room.
_____5. Dad said that the catfish he caught was a ____, and the pictures look pretty convincing.
B. Grammar. Correct the following sentences.
1. Making only minimum wage, I nearly earned $2,000 last summer.
2. The bus station was located by a river which was made of red brick.
3. A fish was found in the Pacific Ocean that had been considered extinct.
4. The cowboy was thrown by the bull in a leather vest.
5. Sam asked me to go for a ride on the telephone.
6. She was making a sweater for her lover that was warm.
7. The results will only be known after all the votes have been counted.
8. The contractors needed all kinds of artists to paint the mural badly
9. The opera singer was upstaged by the mime with the robust voice.
10. Left alone in the house, the thunderstorm terrified the two small children.
C. Quotation Marks. Correct the following sentences.
1. Jackson replied, I didn’t read To Kill a Mockingbird even after Miss McCool said If
you don’t read this chapter I’m going to give you all detention.
2. I see that Maris quoted Henry David Thoreau who said Most men lead lives of quiet
desperation said Mrs. Harvey as class started.
3. I don’t agree with that cried Haley its not true that my fiancé is an ax murderer!
4. Did you read the chapter Consolation Prize in the book Lottery Winners and Their
Destinies.
5. Leon couldn’t recall that it was Whitman who wrote Beat! Beat! Drums! said Hariet
the class know-it-all.
D. Text Structures. Identify the following text structures as
A. Cause-effect
B. Comparison-Contrast
C. Problem-Solution
_____1. Sunnybrook's Chronic Pain Clinic loses money on initial consultations and suffers from long
patient waiting times for initial consultations. Unless the number of consultations can be increased by
15% using the same resources, the pain clinic is in danger of being shut down. The loss of money and
the waiting times are related because two of the four doctors do not manage to see their patients within
the allotted one hour consultation. This means not only that these doctors are unable to see as many
patients as the other two doctors, but that those they do see have to wait well past their scheduled
appointment. The problem, then, is to eliminate inefficiency in initial consultations without compromising
the level offer.
______2. My hometown and my college town have several things in common. First, both are small rural
communities. For example, my hometown, Gridlock, has a population of only about 10,000 people.
Similarly, my college town, Subnormal, consists of about 11,000 local residents. This population swells to
15,000 people when the college students are attending classes. A second way in which these two towns
are similar is that they are both located in rural areas. Gridlock is surrounded by many acres of farmland
which is devoted mainly to growing corn and soybeans. In the same way, Subnormal lies in the center of
farmland which is used to raise hogs and cattle.
______3. . In recent decades, cities have grown so large that now about 50% of the Earth's population
lives in urban areas. There are several reasons for this occurrence. First, the increasing industrialization
of the nineteenth century resulted in the creation of many factory jobs, which tended to be located in
cities. These jobs, with their promise of a better material life, attracted many people from rural areas.
Second, there were many schools established to educate the children of the new factory laborers. The
promise of a better education persuaded many families to leave farming communities and move to the
cities. Finally, as the cities grew, people established places of leisure, entertainment, and culture, such as
sports stadiums, theaters, and museums. For many people, these facilities made city life appear more
interesting than life on the farm, and therefore drew them away from rural communities.
Day Two
A. Vocabulary. Match the correct word to the sentence it fits.
a. droll
b. slither
c. swoon
d. juggernaut
e. leviathan
_____1. Mario saw the lizard _____onto the pizza dough, so he raised his cleaver and created lizard
pizza.
_____2. In the Bible, a ____is a sea serpent of a very large size.
_____3. Morris was a ____comedian who could rarely get enough bookings to support his family.
_____4. Hildy always begins to _____ when she sees blood.
_____5. The wall was a ____that had to be overcome before we could conquer their village.
B. Grammar. Correct the following sentences.
1. The island had a museum for tourists with shrunken heads.
2. Being a normal youth, domestic chores bored me.
3. While walking on concrete, the clicking of shoes can be heard.
4. By assigning true-and-false problems, students don't have to think.
5. Having grown up in a mining town, the big city seemed unfriendly.
6. When taking a bath, a radio should never be left close to the tub.
7. By glancing over the magazine rack in any drugstore, many magazines can be
classified as either men's or women's magazines.
8. The lion was captured before anyone was injured by its keepers.
9. Arriving home late, the apartment was dark.
10. Being made of glass, Doris handled the lamp carefully
.C. Quotation Marks. Correct the following sentences.
1. Craig Martha said has asked me to marry me!
2. David said Lily is the love of my life, but I married Opal.
3. Opal asked David did you just say Lily is the love of my life?
4. I read the article Ben Franklin Renaisance Man in History Magazine.
5. William Shakespeare wrote What a piece of work is man in Hamlet.
D. Text Structures. Identify the following text structures as
A. Cause-effect
B. Comparison-Contrast
C. Problem-Solution
____1. In summer, when long daylight hours stimulate growth in the sparse vegetation,
musk oxen live well and grow fat. In winter, food plants lie deep under hard-packed
snow, which the oxen scrape away with their hooves. This is the hungry time, when
they survive mainly on the fat that they stored during the summer. Others, too, are hungry, including
bands of timber wolves, which sometimes follow the musk oxen. In spring, when the calves are born, the
wolves become particularly menacing. The musk oxen form a defensive ring, with calves and young
animals in the middle. Even a dozen wolves attacking together stand little chance against that circle of
lowered heads and sturdy horns.
_____2. High overhead, plants such as orchids and ferns grow. They are adapted to life on tree branches
where there’s plenty of sunlight. They grew from windblown seeds or
spores that once landed on the tree. These plants get the water they need from rain.
They get minerals from dust and decaying leaves. They take nothing from the tree at
all. Mistletoe lives in treetops, too, but it is a thief. Birds carry the plant’s sticky seeds to a tree branch.
The mistletoe’s roots grow into the living wood and steal all the water
and minerals the plant needs from the tree. Its leaves cast shade on the tree’s leaves.
It is a good thing for trees that mistletoe does not grow very large.
____3. Abortion is the taking of a human life. A growing number of women are going through this
procedure, brainwashed by society that they are simply destroying cells that have the potential for human
life. They use abortion as birth control. Hundreds of unborn babies are being killed every day. The only
way to solve this problem is to end the legality of this atrocious operation.